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The US President does not usually take counsel, especially from foreign leaders who often attempt to praise and compliment the US president.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Nayib Bukele has followed a different strategy by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in removing what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the US judiciary also garnered support from Maga figures, including an social media message by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past boosted Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the leader's recent intervention come at a time of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the president's team is employing similar authoritarian methods used by rulers in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

The president's online call last week was just the latest in a string of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to halt deportation flights transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued during social media attacks on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had ordered restraining orders blocking Trump from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the president has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful protests outside the city's federal building.

History of Attacking Judges

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or in other ways impeded the government's policy goals. Prior to resuming office recently, the president urged his supporters against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased climate of risks and coercion in the months since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on information gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to 395 federal judges, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is on track to exceed the previous year's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

Experts state that the threats are a result of the language coming from top government officials.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in calls for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is another move in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Playbook

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple nations, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, right after starting a new term despite legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s attorney general and five justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for replacements selected by the leader.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Experts say that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

“The administration is looking around at these achievements and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any legislation that would weaken the courts,” she said.

Citing examples such as the advisor's persistent claims of nearly limitless executive power, she noted: “They directly criticize the judiciary by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in reframe the discussion by repeating their argument that the executive has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant aiming at Salas.

“Everyone understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the federal police. And those are both dedicated police units that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

Regarding the government's objectives, Scheppele said that “removing a US justice is highly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently